LOLLIPOP men and women still have a vital role to play within their community.

That is the opinion of Neilston lollipop woman Allison Kinson, 46, who is a familiar face in the village having worked there since 2002.

Allison is eager to highlight the crucial service she and her colleagues provide despite the advancements in road safety measures and campaigns she has seen emerge during a 25-year career as a lollipop woman.

Her decision to share her views comes just a fortnight after the death of Gerry Hughes, a well known and highly popular lollipop man from Barrhead.

Gerry's passing was met with an outpouring of sympathy from the rest of the community who knew him from his days spent helping people to cross the road at Barrhead Railway Station and Springhill and Auchenback Primary.

Allison herself enjoys taking responsibility for the safety of Neilston's young and old generations. The fact so many people of varying ages rely on her on a regular basis is a source of pride to the Hillside Crescent resident.

She said: "A lot of people will say: 'No, you cross at the lollipop woman', even some of the pensioners will head for us.

"The parents come up with their weans to go to nursery and they say: 'No, you'll cross here with Allison!' Because I have been doing it for so long people expect me to be there.

"It's a good job and, because I've been doing it so long, I know the weans of the weans. It's been drummed into them from when they could understand and were starting to walk themselves.

"They know better because they know I blether to their mums or grannies and they always say hello to you. The weans are great, they can all be cheeky but they're funny cheeky."

Allison, who is originally from Barrhead, guides both young tots and the elderly safely over the road outside the Co-operative store and at the cross on Neilston's Main Street.

And although she has encountered her fair share of impatient drivers, Allison has nothing but kind things to say about the village and her job.

"Neilston is just one of those places," she said.

"It's a good place because everybody knows everybody – it's a nice wee place. It's the weird and wonderful in Neilston. I sit there and chuckle sometimes because I've got the big, heavy jacket on and they're walking about with shorts and T-shirts on.

"The best bit is just seeing the weans growing up because you see them going in from play school right up.

"It's seeing them go from being wee three-year-olds who wouldn't say boo to a ghost to becoming 16, 17-year-olds."

Allison has worked all over East Renfrewshire and laughed as she recalled her first shift in Barrhead back in 1991.

She said: "My first shift was on the Main Street in Barrhead when the Carlibar school used to be there. I was like: 'Oh my God, they're throwing me on a dual carriageway!'"